Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Fibrous web of paper or board and method of making the same
The present invention relates to a method for the preparation of a fibrous web
of paper or board, a fibrous web obtained by a method, and a multilayer board
comprising such web as at least one of the layers. As a particular aspect,
foaming technique is used in the invention for producing the fibrous web.
Background of the invention
In the paper industry foam technique, where foam is used as a carrier phase of
materials, has been used in both web formation and web coating processes.
The technique is described e.g. in the publications Radvan, B., Gatward, A. P.
J., The formation of wet-laid webs by a foaming process, Tappi, vol 55 (1972)
p. 748; a report by Wiggins Teape Research and Development Ltd., New pro-
cess uses foam in papermaking instead of avoiding it, Paper Trade Journal,
Nov 29. 1971; and Smith, M. K., Punton, V. W., Rixson, A. G., The structure
and properties of paper formed by a foaming process, TAPP!, Jan 1974, Vol.
57, No 1, pp. 107-111.
In GB 1 395 757 there is described an apparatus for producing a foamed fiber
dispersion for use in the manufacture of paper. A surface active agent is
added
to fibrous pulp with a fibre length in excess of about 3 mm, to provide a
disper-
sion with an air content of at least 65 %, to be discharged onto the forming
fab-
ric of a papermaking machine. The aim is to achieve uniform formation of the
fibrous web on the fabric.
By the middle of the 1970s the foam forming process had been successfully
demonstrated on a production machine. In the Wiggins Teape Radfoam pro-
cess (Arjo Wiggins) fibres were delivered to the wire of a conventional Four-
drinier paper machine in suspension in aqueous foam. The development team
obtained a non-layered 3D structure in papers made on a Fourdrinier machine
at very high concentrations of fibres (3-5 %) in water using foam.
When comparing foam and water forming methods one trend is clear. With
foam forming the bulk is bigger, but the tensile index is smaller. With a
bulkier
structure the structure is more porous, which leads to smaller tensile index
val-
ues. An interesting result from a comparison of water and foam laid samples
was that tensile stiffness indexes in both cases were very close even though
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foam formed samples were much bulkier. The reason for that is currently un-
known and requires further research.
Surfactants used in the foaming process have a negative influence on both the
dry and wet tensile strength of a paper web.
The tensile strength loss may be explained by a decrease in the dry tensile
strength of a paper sheet as surfactants are adsorbed on fibre surfaces hinder-
ing hydrogen bonding between the fibres. The initial wet strength is reduced
by
surfactants, especially for a dry content of 8-25%, due to a reduction in sur-
face tension which results from the weakening of the main force holding the
wet sheet together.
According to current understanding the main problems, which have prevented
foam forming from becoming a standard web forming technology in paper, pa-
perboard and cardboard production, are:
- too high porosity in some applications,
- reduced strength properties compared to normal low consistency wet
forming,
- inferior Scott bond,
- inferior tensile strength, and
- inferior elastic modulus.
With foam forming a higher bulk (lower density) can be obtained as compared
to normal wet forming. For typical printing and packaging paper and board
grades the main drawbacks are the loss of elastic modulus ("softness") and in-
ternal strength (Scott bond or z-strength). However, the same characteristics
are advantages in tissue making. Thus foam forming has been much more
common in tissue paper products.
A more recent approach of improved papermaking, aiming at improving de-
watering and retention of papermaking chemicals in a fibrous web formed on a
forming fabric, is incorporation of microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) in the
pulp
suspension. US 6,602,994 B1 teaches use of derivatized MFC with electrostat-
ic or steric functionality for the goals, which even include better formation
of the
web. According to the reference the microfibrils have a diameter in the range
of 5 to 100 nm.
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However, the drawbacks experienced with MFC are densification and high dry-
ing shrinkage of the paper, as well as a tendency of MFC to absorb and retain
a substantial amount of water, which increases the energy required for drying
and reduces paper machine speed and productivity. For these reasons MFC
has not won extensive use in paper industry so far.
Summary of the invention
The object of the present invention is to overcome or substantially reduce the
above problems regarding printing and packaging papers and boards, by way
of finding a method of making a foam formed fibrous web, lending a substan-
tially increased strength to paper and board products while preserving the low
density. The solution according to the invention is production of a web
through
the steps of (i) providing a foam of water and a surfactant, (ii)
incorporating mi-
crofibrillated cellulose together with a pulp of a greater fibre length in the
foam,
(iii) supplying the foam onto a forming fabric, (iv) dewatering the foam on
the
forming fabric by suction to form a web, and (v) subjecting the web to final
dry-
ing.
In particular, it has surprisingly been found that a pulp of a high fiber
length,
mechanical or chemical, can be advantageously used in foam forming in com-
bination with microfibrillated cellulose. Even though use of MFC in papermak-
ing is known as such, to the applicant's knowledge incorporation of MFC into a
foam has not been suggested in the prior art, and the benefits were not fore-
seeable to a skilled person.
The microfibrils of MFC typically have a fibre length of about 100 nm to 10 pm
and a fibre diameter of about 3 to 50 nm. The term microfibrillated cellulose
(MFC) as used to define the invention also covers nanofibrillated cellulose
(NFC). The pulp combined with MFC by definition has a greater fibre length,
preferably about 1 mm or more. A particularly suitable pulp for use in the in-
vention is chemithermomechanical pulp (CTMP).
In addition to CTMP, other long fibre pulps useful in the invention are
chemical
pulps, chemimechanical pulp (CMP), thermomechanical pulp (TMP), GW, and
other high yield pulps such as APMP and NSSC.
Without being bound to any theory it is believed that in the combination the
long fibres of CTMP or the like provide the bulky structure and the MFC pro-
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vides the bonding between the long fibres. The method according to the inven-
tion has been found to achieve a bulk of at least 2.5 cm3/g, preferably 3 to 7
cm3/g. The method also proved to work well with CTMP milling reject, showing
the possibility to use less refined pulp for the product, e.g. folding
boxboard
middle layer.
In the foam forming neither individual long fibres nor MFC alone is able to
form
flocks, but however, MFC is able to build bridges between individual long
fibres
thus lend surprisingly good strength properties to the web.
As foam forming prevents flock formation between long fibres, very good
grammage formation can be gained. This improves the evenness of the print
quality as there is less calibre variation in the paper and board.
These stiff long fibres of CTMP are able to maintain the bulky structure in
wet
pressing and drying thus giving surprisingly good bulk for the sheet.
An interesting result in comparison of water and foam laid samples was that
tensile stiffness index was very close in both cases even though the foam
formed samples were much bulkier. The reason for that is currently unknown
and it needs more research.
According to an embodiment of the invention a continuous fibrous web is
formed in an industrial scale on a running forming fabric of a paper or board
machine, dewatered by suction through the web and the forming fabric, and fi-
nally dried in a drying section of the paper or board machine.
Another embodiment of the invention comprises dewatering the web by suction
of air through the web and the forming fabric at a pressure of at most 0.6
bar,
followed by predrying by suction of air at a pressure of at most about 0.3
bar.
According to a further embodiment of the invention the fibrous components in-
corporated in the foam consist of about 5 to 40 wt-%, preferably 10 to 40 wt-%
of MFC and about 60 to 95 wt-%, preferably 60 to 90 wt-% of pulp with longer
fibres.
According to a still further embodiment of the invention the foam is brought
to
an air content of 60 to 70 vol-`)/0 before being supplied onto the forming
fabric.
The consistency of the pulp subjected to foaming may be 1 to 2 (:)/0 based on
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the amount of water. Suitable amount of surfactant in the foam may be in the
range of 0.05 to 2.5 wt-%, but will be easily determinable by a skilled
person.
The preferred surfactant for use in the invention is sodium dodecyl sulphate
(SDS), but other typical surfactants may be used as well.
5 Foam forming by use of long cellulosic fibres and added microfibrillated
cellu-
lose in the foam is thus very suitable and promising method for producing all
paper and board grades needing best possible formation combination with
best possible bending stiffness.
Such products include for example all paperboard grades such as:
- cartonboards, including folding boxboard, white line chipboard, solid
bleached board, solid unbleached board, liquid packaging board etc.,
- container boards, including linerboard, corrugated medium etc.,
- special boards, including core board, wall paper base, book binding
board, woodpulp board, etc.
The products also include for example paper grades such as newsprint, im-
proved news print, rotonews, MFC, LWC, WFC, art and ULWC.
The high bulk high strength structure achieved according to the invention can
also be used for example:
- as middle ply in multiply structures (papers and boards),
- in lamination to other paper structures and/or plastic film layers,
- as fibrous base for extrusion coating with plastics,
- as heat insulation, noise insulation, liquid and moisture absorber,
- as formable layer in moulded structures such as trays, cups, containers.
The fibrous web according to the invention, which is obtainable by the method
as described in the above, comprises a mixture of microfibrillated cellulose
(MFC) and a pulp of a greater fibre length, and has a bulk of at least 2.5
cm3/g,
preferably a bulk of 3 to 7 cm3/g.
The fibrous web according to the invention may have a Scott bond value of at
least 50 J/m2, preferably 120 to 200 J/m2.
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The pulp of a greater fibre length in the fibrous web according to the
invention
may be mechanical pulp, preferably CTMP. In general the fibrous web com-
prises about 5 to 40 wt-% of MFC and about 60 to 95 wt-% of pulp of a greater
fibre length.
As the fibrous web according to the invention is used as a single layer in a
multilayer paperboard or cardboard, it is preferably positioned as a middle
lay-
er, while the outer surface layers may be fibrous webs of a lower bulk than
said
middle layer. For instance denser print plies with a high elastic modulus,
made
by standard papermaking techniques, may constitute such outer layers. The
multilayer products obtainable by use of the invention include folding box-
boards, liquid packaging boards and cupboards for instance. However, it is
possible to produce all the layers of a multilayer board by the foam forming
technique according to the invention.
Examples
Foam laid handsheets of a size 38.5 cm x 26.5 cm were made by the following
procedure: foam was produced by mixing water and sodium dodecyl sulphate
(SDS) as a surface active agent in ratio 0.15-0.2 g/I with a drilling machine
(3500 rpm) as far as the air content of foam is 60-70%. The target air content
of foam was determined by the foaming set-up; when the foam reaches the
target air content the level of the foam surface does not rise anymore and the
mixing starts to decrease the bubble size of the foam. When the foam was
ready a fiber suspension comprising CTMP and NFC (Daicel KY-100G, 10.7
%) was mixed with the prefabricated foam. Mixing was continued until the tar-
get air content was reached again. In stable condition the distances between
fibrous particles in the foam remained constant and no flocculation happened.
After that the foam was decanted into a handsheet mold and filtrated through a
wire using an exhauster and a vacuum chamber. The wire was of the type
conventionally used for water based forming. Then the wire and the handsheet
formed thereon were removed from the mold and pre-dried on a suction table
by use of an exhauster. The suction table has a suction slit, width 5 mm that
suck air through the sheet with 0.2 bar vacuum.
According to the above procedure handsheets were made from pulps with dif-
ferent shares of NFC mixed with CTMP accept (379 CSF), reject or slightly mill
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refined, namely 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 %. Handsheets of mere 100 % CTMP
(0 % NFC) were made for comparison.
The dried handsheets were tested by measuring the bulk and modified Scott
bond for each sheet. The results are shown graphically in Fig. 1. The share of
NFC is marked beside each measured result. The figure also includes a num-
ber of current products made by conventional non-foam papermaking tech-
niques for comparison.
The tests show that e.g. 20% of NFC mixed with CTMP accept pulp increased
the Scott bond value from 55 to 190 J/m2; the corresponding bulk values are 6
and 4 g/m3. The increase in CTMP reject sheets was 50 to 127 J/m2 in Scott
bond and the corresponding bulk values 7.4 and 5.8 g/m3. Target values of a
middle layer of folding boxboard are a bulk of at least 2.5 g/m3 and Scott
bond
>100. The results show that it is possible to produce a high bulk middle layer
of
folding boxboard having the internal strength properties needed from coarse
fiber material mixed with NFC by foam forming. The possibility of forming the
middle layer of folding boxboard from less refined CTMP pulp is also shown by
the results. The economical influences of the invention are savings in
refining
energy of pulps and in drying energy of foam formed web. Also the benefit of
foam forming, excellent formation regardless of fiber length, enables thinner
surface layers and coating layers of folding boxboard.
The tests also showed that the distances between fibrous particles in flowing
foam remain constant, i.e. fibers do not flocculate. When a web is made from
this kind of foam, for example by suction through the forming fabric of a pa-
permaking machine, the fibers preserve their non-flocculated state and form a
web with excellent formation. The structural pressure foam applies to the
struc-
ture when removed is much less compared to conventional removal of the wa-
ter, thus resulting in a high bulk. Combining foam forming with web drying by
suction air through the web (e.g. using a suction slot) it is possible to
reach a
web solid content of over 70% and retain the high bulk. Nanocellulose (NFC)
added to the fiber material to be foamed increases internal strength
properties
of the web formed.
